Modern aircraft are commonly equipped with one or more active control stick assemblies that permit a pilot to control various aspects of aircraft flight. An inceptor-type control stick assembly, for example, may be deployed on a fixed wing aircraft and utilized to control the aircraft's pitch and yaw. The inceptor-type control stick assembly includes an elongated control stick that extends upward from a housing assembly mounted in the aircraft cockpit, typically in either a center stick or side stick disposition. The lower end of the control stick is affixed to a gimbal or double cardon assembly disposed within the housing assembly. The gimbal or double cardon assembly permits the control stick to be rotated relative to the housing assembly about first and second rotational axes (i.e., the pitch and roll axes). One or more position sensors are further disposed within the housing assembly and monitor control stick movement. During flight, the position sensors generate positions indicative of the control stick movement, which are subsequently utilized to alter the position of the aircraft's movable flight surfaces and thereby adjust the aircraft's pitch and yaw.
There has been a recent migration in the aircraft industry toward “active” control stick assemblies capable of providing tactile cueing; i.e., haptic force feedback imparted to the control stick indicative of the aircraft's current flight parameters. In general, such active control stick assemblies include at least one artificial force feel (AFF) motor (e.g., a brushless direct current motor) that is selectively energized by a controller. The AFF motor is mechanically coupled to the control stick by a speed reducer, which is conventionally either a gearbox or a harmonic drive. When energized by the controller, the AFF motor drives through the speed reducer to exert a controlled torque on the control stick about one or more of the rotational axis. In this manner, the active control stick assembly generates haptic force feedback, which may be varied by commands from the Flight Control Computers, commensurate with current aircraft attitude and flight conditions.
Although providing the pilot with feedback in a rapid and intuitive manner, conventional inceptor-type active control stick assemblies are limited in certain respects. The gimbal or double cardon architectures employed by such active control stick assemblies commonly employ a relatively large number of components, such as various brackets, bearings, and the like. As a result, such active control stick assemblies are often undesirably complex and costly to produce. In addition, such active control stick assemblies tend to be relatively bulky and may be difficult to integrate into the limited space available within an aircraft's cockpit.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an active control stick assembly suitable for deployment onboard an aircraft that eliminates the complex gimbal assemblies and double carbon arrangements employed by conventional control stick assemblies. Preferably, such an active control stick assembly would be less costly to produce, would have a reduced part count, and would have a streamlined envelope as compared to conventional control stick assemblies. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this Background.